The present invention relates to the transmission of images or drawings to low display ability terminals, and more particularly to cellular phones.
Electronic data exchanges using the Internet are multiplying under varied forms, via digital terminals for displaying these messages. It is possible for instance to transmit data including drawings or images using a means which operates with the WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), SMS (Short Messaging Service) or other means for these data exchanges. In this way it is possible for instance to send parents and/or friends having mobile phone type terminals equipped with a display screen, humorous drawings accompanied with text messages adapted to the humor or to the needs of the moment, who receive them on a terminal (e.g. Fun Mail service presented on the web at the Internet universal resource locator http://www.wapland.com/art/375.html). However, the presentation of drawings or images comprising text having a large number of characters remains a problem on the screens of low display ability terminals and especially mobile phone screens. The terminals generally used do not permit the display of drawings or images in satisfactory conditions, and for the smallest of the terminals, for instance cellular phones, which are also the most numerous, the text is not sufficiently legible to the user.
It is therefore necessary to be able to send data including drawings, images or extracts of plates of drawings or images together with text, to terminals with low definition screens, and in good condition, i.e., by keeping a good image quality and without generating additional cumbersome manipulations for the sender.
The process according to the invention enables this problem to be remedied. The invention relates to a transmission process which comprises transmitting data to low display ability terminals. The data comprises images that include an image frame and at least one text zone inside the image frame. The process enables the selection and sending of this data in the form of isolated drawings or images, or strips of drawings or images (for example xe2x80x9ccomic stripxe2x80x9d type images, possibly accompanied by the desired text, to these low display ability terminals.
The terminals can themselves be relays for sending the data to other low display ability terminals. The process according to the invention enables the sending of the images while maintaining a good display quality for the user on the terminals of, for example, mobile cellular phones or PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) type terminals. This sending is performed without having to redefine or redraw the image manually, or the plate of images, while obtaining a good image quality on display. The process according to the invention enables the text to be removed from the image by making an automatic extraction of the text that would not be legible in its initial version in graphic mode on a low display ability screen. Then, the terminal""s resources are used to produce the image display and the text display in text mode.
The process according to the invention relates to the transmission of data comprising one or more image entities. An image entity is defined by two zones: one image zone comprises the drawing or image to be sent and a text zone intended to receive one or more alphanumeric character strings corresponding to the one or more character strings of the original image. Based on a user request, the process according to the invention enables the automatic transmission to a low display ability terminal, of an image entity comprising at least one text zone, the process comprises the following steps:
searching for the text zones inside the frame of the original image;
recognizing each individual text zone;
assigning to each individual text zone a unique identifier;
replacing in the original image each character string by its related unique identifier to obtain a modified image; and
joining in an image entity the modified image and each character string preceded by its unique identifier forming a text zone in a presentation in which the text zone is located outside the frame of the modified image, to be able to display the modified image with a first enlargement coefficient and the text zones with at least one enlargement coefficient different than that used for the modified image.
The process according to the invention also enables the automatic transmission of data comprising several original images of which at least one of them is together with a text contained inside its image frame. The data is cut into as many individual image frames as there are original images and the steps of the process mentioned just above are applied, with the steps concerning the automatic transmission of the data coming from an original image.
The present invention therefore relates to a method of automatically transmitting images to a low display ability terminal, with at least one of the images comprising at least one text zone having a character string. The method comprises the steps of: searching for text zones inside an image frame of an original image; recognizing each individual text zone comprising a single character string; assigning to each individual text zone a unique identifier; replacing each character string in the original image by its related unique identifier to obtain a modified image; and joining in an image entity the modified image and each character string preceded by its unique identifier forming a text zone in a presentation, wherein the text zone is located outside a further frame of the modified image, such that the modified image is displayed with a first enlargement coefficient and the text zones are displayed with at least one second enlargement coefficient different than that used for the modified image.